


Angels and Secret Agents

by iloveitblue



Series: Prompts [180]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angel!Clint, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:35:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iloveitblue/pseuds/iloveitblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Clint is an angel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Nope." Clint says to the human who just picked up a carton of milk. "That’s two days from expiring. And you have a sensitive tummy. When will you learn, Jonathan?" He knows perfectly well that the humans can’t hear him, but it doesn’t stop him from trying. 

Clint jumps off of the aisles and gracefully lands next to the human. “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.” He comments as the guy passes through him and walks straight to the cashier for his milk. 

Clint softly shakes his head and walks toward the cashier working today. Shirley, her name tag says, is reading a gossip magazine. Clint takes a peek over her shoulder and mock gasps. “No! Amber Rose did what to the Kardashians?” His voice full of sarcasm, only to go unnoticed by the cashier. 

The bell on the door to the small convenience store chimes signaling another customer. Shirley doesn’t even bother looking up so Clint took it upon himself to greet the stranger. “Welcome!”

The man, probably in his early 40’s or late 30’s, takes one look at Shirley and goes to the back of the store, not even sparing Clint a second glance - not that humans could see Clint, of course.

He’s been told that only a few humans has seen his kind before. They were the ones instructed to tell the rest of humanity about their kind’s existence, but somewhere along the way and a lot of artistic liberties later, Angels were now depicted in the eyes of humanity as robed celestial beings with their arms outstretched like they’re saying ‘Come at me bro’. Clint wants to laugh at that.

Clint follows the man to the back of the store where he bends down in front of the Little Debbie’s. He picks up the powdered ones first and examines it.

"I’d go for the chocolate ones. The TV says its heavenly." Clint snickers into his fist at his own little joke but the man remains unmoving, still examining the powdered donuts. 

He then picks up a pack of chocolate donuts in his other hand and examines it. The contemplation on the man’s face is intense, although Clint would bet he just looked bored to other humans. But Clint knew better. The man was trying to decide over which one he was going to choose as if his life depended on it. It was a little funny.

Clint grinned with amusement. “C’mon man. Just get both. We both know one just isn’t enough for you.” Clint rolls his eyes at the man. “Besides, how hungry do you think you’ll be in an hour?”

The bell chimes a second time and Clint looks up just in time to see two men with shotguns storm in. “HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!” The first one demanded. 

"WHOSE CAR IS THAT OUTSIDE?" Shirley looked frightened with her hands up in the air, the gossip magazine now forgotten. She shouldn’t be. These guys were nothing more than desperate men. They would avoid hurting anyone and just take the money and leave.

Clint winces. Honestly, he didn’t get why humans have to yell at each other to seem more powerful. 

"It’s mine." The man beside Clint pipes up. Clint stares at him like he grew another head.

"KEYS! NOW!" The second guy points his gun at the man and he raises his hands to show surrender. 

"Okay. Okay. Here they are." The man shows the two guys his car keys and Clint wants to groan. 

"Are all humans this stupid or is it just you?" Clint asks the man.

"Throw them over here." The man does as he’s told and as soon as the robbers had his keys, they turn back to Shirley. "Now, open the register and put the money in the bag." 

"I also have this." The man dangles a pistol by its handle, showing the robbers that his fingers were nowhere near the trigger. 

The two guys started shouting again and Clint wants to bang his head against the wall. “You have a gun?! You have a gun and you don’t use it to defend yourself and Shirley?”

"Throw it over!" One of the two guys says and Clint watches as the man winces. 

"I’d rather not. In case it accidentally goes off and kills one of us. I’d rather I slide it over." The man suggests.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Clint yells at the man, knowing full well that he can’t be heard or seen. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

"Okay. yeah. Slide it over." The guy says to him. 

"Okay. I’m just gonna move over here" The man says slowly and tries to appear more defenseless than he already is. At this point Clint just wants to strangle the man. "and slide it to you. Very slowly."

He bends a little to slide the gun over and as soon as the first guy bends to pick it up, the man picks up a bag of flour and throws it at the second guy. The man runs up the aisle and the first guy points his shotgun at the man but before he could shoot, the man jumps in the air and kicks the shotgun downward just before it fires, landing gracefully and pushing the barrel of the gun up to hit the first guy in the face, effectively knocking him out. He moves toward the second guy, who at this point was still trying to get the flour off of his eyes, and hits him really hard in the head with his elbows. The second guy falls unconscious as well.

This all happens in the span of twenty seconds. More or less. Clint wolf-whistles as the man picks up the shotgun, his pistol and his keys. He deposits the shotgun on the counter in front of Shirley, who still has her hands up in the air, along with two packs of Little Debbie’s. One powdered, and one chocolate.

"I couldn’t decide." The man says nonchalantly, as if he didn’t just do the coolest thing Clint has seen humans do outside of a movie. "Keep the change." He says, dropping a ten dollar bill on the counter.

Clint grinned at that. 

"Wait." Shirley says, her hands still in the air, when the man starts for the door. "What do I tell the cops?"

"Tell them that the Pilates are really paying off." The man says as if that that was obvious. 

Clint laughs then and decides that he likes this man. He follows him outside and gets in the car just before the man did. Clint stares at the man and grins. “So, Where to, boss?” He asks. 

The man doesn’t answer him. Just turns on the radio and eases off the gas station. 

Clint thinks maybe this man is one of those people who’s more than what meets the eye. Clint ends up being right, but he doesn’t know that yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Clint hates to admit it, but he’s gotten attached to Phil. The few short weeks that Clint followed Phil has been the most interesting few weeks he’s had in the last millennium. That’s why, when Phil was stabbed, he reacted a little too negatively. 

He wanted to stab Loki in the chest too but like any other mortal, Loki couldn’t see him. His presence, his entire being, went through when he tried to tackle Loki. It was a little frustrating that he couldn’t even protect Phil when he needed it the most.

Some celestial being he was. All powerful, his ass.

He couldn’t even keep Phil alive long enough for the medics to help him. He never felt as useless as he did at that moment. Clint stayed beside Phil as Fury gathered what remained of the Avengers. He stayed beside Phil’s lifeless body as they took Phil away along with all the other corpses.

Clint’s chest started to constrict as he watched the medics zip up the bag, and he recognized then, that that choking feeling was grief. A feeling he thought he wasn’t capable of anymore.

He stayed beside Phil, and he intended to stay until he was well underneath the ground. He allowed himself at least that much more time with the man.

But Phil was never buried. He was taken somewhere that was obviously not the morgue. A place Nick Fury had called Tahiti.

—

Phil awoke to the sound of an unfamiliar man’s mumbling. “-ple shouldn’t play with the natural cycle of life. It’s not right. If a human is dead, they’re dead. Humans were not meant to come back after death. People shouldn’t play with forces they do not understand. The complications, the corollary of these events will be massive, irreversible,  _catatonic,_ even. This is the-”

“Oh my god, shut up for fuck’s sake.” Phil mumbled back. 

There was deafening silence for a few seconds, before the man spoke again. “You can hear me?”

“I think the entire state of Nevada heard you.” Phil bit back, he tried to open his eyes but he was just so tired right now. Even talking was a chore.

“But no one ever heard me before.”

That made Phil pause for a second, he tried to open his eyes again, this time he actually tried. What met his vision was striking blue eyes. 

“Can you see me?”

Phil blinked a few more times to confirm that, yes, there was a man standing there. “Should I not be able to?”

“Holy- Wait, I can’t say that.” The man frowned. “I, just, normally, no one can see me? Maybe? Or at least they don’t react to my presence. Why can you see me?”

“Um, I don’t really know? Look, I just woke up, and I’m feeling really horrible right now, and I don’t know you but I’m assuming you work here so-”

“I don’t work for SHIELD.”

“What? Then, wait, where am I?”

“You’re inside a SHIELD facility or something. I don’t know, man.”

“How did-”

Phil’s words were interrupted when the door to his room opened and a doctor entered. “Agent Coulson. You’re awake.” She noted, surprised if Phil was reading her right. “Um- were you… talking to someone?”

Phil stared at her for a moment before he looked at the man who was clearly standing beside his cot and in front of her. The man shrugged as if to tell Phil ‘I told you so’. “No, I wasn’t. I was just wondering out loud if I could get some water?”

“Oh.” She rushed over to the side of his cot to reach for a pitcher and in the process walking through the man. Phil’s expression must have been comical because the man snorted. “Is there something wrong, Agent Coulson?” 

“No, not at all.” She gave him a nod and adjusted his bed so that he was sitting up before handing him the glass of water, “Well, if that’s all,”

Phil gave her a nod, and she was out of the door rather frantically.

“What are you?” Phil asked the man. 

“I’m Clint. I’m what your people call an angel, if you can believe it.” The man said, without blinking.

“An angel?” Phil asked again because seriously. “Okay, suppose I believe you. What are you doing here?”

“Well, I started following you because you seemed like an interesting dude. And then you died. and now you’re here.”

“I’m  _dead?”_ Clint could have said that first!

“No, but you’re supposed to be dead. They brought you back. Your SHIELD buddies.”

Phil had wanted to tell Clint that that was technically impossible, but this was SHIELD. and SHIELD had so many secrets. He doesn’t even know how many there are. They could have cracked the code to bringing back the dead a long time ago.

“Okay, so what’s going to happen now?” Phil asked him, resigning his fate.

“That’s on you. I’m just following you around. It’s entertaining. Like reality TV, without all the crappy scripted shit.”

Phil raised an eyebrow at him. “Are angels even allowed to cuss like that?”

“Totally. We’re just not allowed to do anything blasphemous.”

Phil scoffed.

“So, where to now, boss?” Clint asked him with a grin.

For the first time in a long while, Phil did not know the answer to that question. But he found himself looking forward to it. 

After all. if an angel found his life entertaining enough to follow him around, he must’ve done something right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/121359227961/the-angel-clint-was-supposed-to-be-longer-i)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reworking of a scene in AoS S01E14. :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> You gave me too much freedom with that prompt, nonie.

 

“No, but see, I don’t get why they make such a big deal about it…” Clint said with a shrug. 

“Clint.” Phil said with a sort of chastising voice.

“No, just, just stay with me here. They’re not even doing anything important and yet, its on who knows what season now.”

“Clint.” That was Phil’s I’m running out of patience voice.

“I mean sure, the constant sight of the cleavage plus the primal urge built into the human psyche is there, but that should only hold someone’s attention for about five seconds-”

“Which is exactly how long it’ll take for me to shove my gun down your throat and pull the trigger if you don’t shut up.” Phil hissed at him.

“Yeesh, What’s got your underwear in a bunch?” Clint floated a few inches away from Phil and away from the man’s gun. The bullets won’t hurt him, but it’s the principle of the thing. Nobody likes getting shot at.

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m currently engaged in a fire fight with crazy people. So if you would kindly shut up, so I can concentrate and not get shot, that would be great.” Phil said.

Clint made a zipping-my-mouth-shut-and-throwing-away-the-handle-thingie, then crossed his arms over his chest.

Phil breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thank you.” before jumping out from behind the crate he was hiding behind and shooting the three remaining guys.

“Cool. How’d you know where they were?” Clint asked, hovering next to Phil again. 

“There was a window just above you. I noticed it when I told you to shut up.”

Clint gave him a smug grin, “See? I _am_  helpful. Where would you be without me?” 

“Probably still with Fitz.” Phil snarked. If Clint hadn’t distracted him earlier, the three extra guards that were inside TAHITI wouldn’t have been able to sneak up on them, and Phil wouldn’t have told Fitz to run for cover.

“Eh, Fitz is a big boy. He can handle himself.” Clint paused, then with a tone slightly different from his usual one, he said, “Hey, maybe we _should_ look for Fitz. I think I saw him run this way.” Clint pointed towards the other direction. 

Phil was going to say something back, but a white door with the word ‘VIEWING’ caught his attention. He reached for the door handle unconsciously, ignoring Clint’s voice.

“Phil, I don’t think we should be in here.” Clint said as Phil stepped closer to the glass overlooking an operating room. It looked far more sophisticated than any operating room he’s seen, but Phil got the creepy feeling it wasn’t the first time he’s been there. 

Flashes of the images he’d seen under the influence of Reina’s machine started coming back again and he felt paralyzed in place - couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. The machine picking and prodding at his brain. His voice telling them - begging them - to stop, that he just wanted to die. The doctors standing next to his cot. The people watching him from the very spot he stood on. He remembered them all. 

He even remembered someone dressed in white, standing here but looking like he didn’t belong. He remembered that the man just stood there, watching him, even after the rest had gone. He remembered thinking that that person was just like an-

“-il, PHIL, SNAP OUT OF IT.” 

Phil blinked, and turned to Clint at the sound of his screaming voice, his breath grew short and uneven, “You- you knew about this place. You knew about everything. I remember seeing you.” Phil accused him. “You were standing here along with everybody who knew about Project TAHITI. I thought you looked out of place, standing with all the menacing stares directed at me. I- you knew.” 

Clint didn’t say anything for a moment, then he hung his head and nodded.

“You knew, and you didn’t tell me.”

“Phil, I- I just thought that-”

“We could’ve saved so much time. Do you understand that we could be back with Skye right now? That we could’ve saved her life days ago, if you had just told me where this place was? But you were selfish enough to disregard all of that. What kind of angel are you?” Phil was ready to storm off, but Clint’s sarcastic laugh made him pause by the door.

“Let’s be real for a second here, Phil. You claim that you’re doing this for Skye, to save her life, but really, you’re doing this for yourself. You want to know every dirty little secret that SHIELD has kept from you since you were brought back, and the fact that you have absolutely no power to get that information out of anyone is pissing you off.

“At least I did what I did to protect you. I covered up the truth because the lies would help you heal. You, you’re using a member of your team as an excuse to find answers for questions you can’t answer on your own. Get off of your high horse, Phil, and face facts. You’re just as selfish as I am.” 

Phil turned around to tell Clint off, but when he did, there was no one there. 

“Sir?” Fitz’ voice came from behind him, and then the scietist walked past him to look at the operating room below. “Is that where…?”

Phil swallowed the lump in his throat and frowned at the ground before he huffed. “Yeah.” He answered quietly, leaving the room to search for what they’ve come for.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/136887875161/i-still-havent-gotten-my-mom-a-birthday-gift)
> 
> #OOOH Cliffhaaanger#what ever will become of our two heroes#EVEN I DONT KNOW#HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA#srsly tho


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “You’re sulking.”

“’Mnot. Leave me alone.” Clint told Kate, refusing to turn around and face her.

“Y’know how I know?” Kate asked, sitting on the edge of the cloud next to Clint.

Clint sighed dramatically. “Please. Enlighten me.” Now see, Kate knew he was being sarcastic, she just enjoyed his misery too much to leave it alone. They were friends, after all.

“You’re here. And not on Earth. The last time you were here was over a millennium ago. Why is that?” Kate paused, glancing over at Clint to see if he was feeling guilty about leaving heaven. “I can’t say I blame you though. It gets pretty boring up here.”

“Yeah, well-”

“The rules, the responsibilities, the constant reminders about the rules and responsibilities. Earth, in comparison, must be a riot.”

“It is.” Clint smiled a little.

“No rules. No responsibilities. They can’t touch you unless they were willing to risk having the entire human population see us.” She paused, “Which was why they never ran after you when you left. So why come back?” She glanced at his wings, the one Uriel has burnt. Clint must have noticed the attention because he self consciously hid his broken wing. “Why risk your freedom to come back?” Kate asked.

“I don’t belong there.” Clint answered quietly.

“That’s never stopped you before.” Kate bumped shoulders with him.

Clint doesn’t answer her, he just continued to stare down at Earth. Kate followed his line of sight, knowing that she could probably see as far as Clint could if she tried hard enough.

On Earth, she saw the man that Clint was tailing the past few years. He was sitting beside a cot where a girl, could be his daughter, lay unconscious. He seemed more tired than usual. Almost as if he was regretting something.

“Is it because of him?” Kate asked. “Did he do something?”

Clint shook his head. “No. I was the one who did something.”

Kate hummed. That didn’t really surprise her. “It must have been pretty bad for you to choose to come back.” 

“I lied to him.” Clint answered, drooping even more. “I thought I was doing a good thing. Protecting him from the truth, you know? I thought- I thought he, of all people, would understand that.” 

“So, instead of apologizing, you what, decided to run away, avoid the problem. Is that it?”

“You don’t get it.” Clint defended himself.

“I’m sure I don’t. Whatever drama you got yourself into, I’m sure I won’t get it even if you explained it to me a hundred times. Here’s what I get though: Nobody, and I mean nobody, likes being lied to. Whether its for their own good or not, learning that you’ve been lied to hurts.”

“That doesn’t mean I can just tell him everything either.” Clint countered. “There’s a reason why I didn’t tell him, and that’s because I knew that the truth will hurt him more than the lies will.” 

“And did it?” Kate asked, looking down at the man who looked like he hasn’t slept for days. “Did it hurt him more to find out the truth? or was it the fact that you lied that caused him to look this miserable?”

Clint didn’t answer. He didn’t really need to.

—

Lady Sif took Lorelei out of the BUS, leaving Phil alone with May. She didn’t even wait for them to completely get off before she started speaking.

“I’ll run diagnostics. See how much damage we’re dealing with.” She started to walk away when Phil asked her,

“How much are you dealing with?”

She sighed internally and turned back to him with what Phil called her stage-smile. “He didn’t break anything, so-”

“Not what I meant. You should talk to him. Hash it out” Phil suggested.

May cocked her head a bit and gave him a challenging look. “You should take your own advice.” She watched as his eyes lost the sparkle that was there just a second ago. Sometimes she hated being right. “You’ve been sitting on something since the guest house.” She approached him like she would a scared animal. She knew that Phil still wouldn’t talk, he held his cards too close to his chest. “If not with me, then with Skye.”

When Phil chose not to speak, she left him.

Phil stood there for a long moment not really sure what to do next. As much as he wanted to ‘take his own advice’ he couldn’t do that without Clint. Seems like he couldn’t do much without thinking about Clint. 

He missed him.

Phil took a deep breath in and sighed, he was about to head to Skye’s room when he heard a sound, something like a sonic boom. He raced out of the BUS to find a smoking figure a few meters away from the BUS. None of the few agents running around seemed wary of the figure, almost as if they couldn’t see it entirely. 

“Clint.” Phil heard himself and before he could rethink it, he ran towards him. Before he could even crouch down to get to eye level, Phil scrambled to ask, “Are you okay?”

Clint groaned, accepting the help Phil offered him, and stood up. “I’m fine. I’m fine. I just didn’t get the smoothest landing.” 

That’s when Phil noticed his wings. Almost half of his left wing was burned; almost like he was shot at.

“Oh my God. What happened? Do you need med- What am I saying? Are you- Is there anything I can do?” Phil hated it when he panicked.

“No, I’m fine. That’s-” Clint pointed at his burnt wing “a long story. It’s okay now though. I don’t really use it, anyway.” Clint waved the concern away. “I- I came back to, um, I wanted to say I’m sorry. You know, for keeping things from you. I shouldn’t have done that. I just- I was trying to protect you and in doing so, I hurt you. I know that now. And if you want, I can leave. I won’t bother you again and I-”

Phil hugged him tight, almost didn’t want to let go, even. “No, I want you to stay. Please.” Clint hugged him back. He could feel his wings wrap around him just as his arms did. “Me too. I’m sorry for the things I said. I was just-”

Clint pulled away, making Phil stop. He tried not to chase Clint’s embrace like a needy lovestruck teenager. “You don’t have to explain yourself. You were right to be mad. I was the one who made a mistake. I’m just happy you’re willing to forgive me.” 

“Always.” Phil answered, pulling Clint back into the hug.

—

Skye watched as Coulson closed the door behind Fitz and Simmons. She sat down on her cot knowing by now that whatever it was Coulson was going to say she wouldn’t like it. “I know that face, and something tells me I should be sitting down for this.” She tried to ease the tension in the room. 

“She’s already got you pegged, sir.” 

“I’ve been looking for a way to tell you this, looking around for some answers, something to help explain…” Phil started, “but I don’t have any.”

“Just tell her, Phil. She can take it.”

Skye stared at Phil, 

“So, the drug, the one that saved us both. When we found it, I discovered something else…” Skye tilted her head a bit almost as if to tell Phil to go on. “Its source. It was… alien.”

“Alien, as in… unfamiliar?” Skye asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

“If only.” 

“No.” Phil answered. 

“Wow.” Skye breathed.

“The minute I learned what it was, I tried to keep them from injecting you with it, but I was too late. I’m so sorry, Skye.” 

“Phil, It’s okay. It’s fine.”

“You tried to save my life. You did save my life.” Skye told him.

“She’s right. You did a good thing.”

“I was desperate to and so I subjected you to unknown ramifications and side effects.” Phil pushed.

“I’m sorry to say this, sir, but… so what?” Skye said. “We are alive. And you’ve had that stuff in you for a while now and you’re okay, right? Plus you haven’t sprung a pointy tail or anything, so bonus there.”

“I like her. I like you.”

“I know nothing fazes you, but this should faze you.” Phil insisted. 

“She’s not going to blame you for saving her, Phil. So why don’t you just stop?”

“Okay, can you please shut up?” Skye asked the man beside Phil. “Who are you anyway?”

The man in question turned left and right before pointing at himself. “Me?” 

“Yeah.” Skye nodded giving the man a silent ‘duh?’

The man turned to stare at Phil and Phil stared at her like she was crazy. “You can see him.” Phil whispered. 

“I guess that’s one of the side effects.” The man followed up, still looking as shocked as Phil. 

“I don’t- what?”

Phil opened his mouth probably to explain, but the man stopped him. “I’ll explain.” 

Skye was then subjected to half an hour of explanation while Phil sat down beside her. After Clint - that’s what the angel said his name was - has said his piece, Skye blinked, looking more confused than when Clint started. 

“I don’t- what?” she repeated.

“Well, at least we found something that fazed her.” Clint shrugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/138859281016/part-one-part-two-part-threemore)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I have to get back.” Clint said, his brows furrowed.

Kate huffed and smiled at his clueless supposed mentor. “Took you long enough.” Kate gave him a pat on the back, strong enough to make him jerk forward. “In case you haven’t noticed, you don’t exactly belong here.”

“Hey!” Clint objected, feeling a little insulted but he smiled, “Yeah. I guess I don’t.”

“Well then, come on. Tzadkiel is gonna be back from his patrol, and he’s a lot harder to get past than Hadriel” Kate stood up, walking out of Clint’s room. “Keep up, old man.” She said gleefully.

Clint stared at her. He knew what she was trying to do. He couldn’t say he approved of it, but nobody could stop Kate once she set her mind to something.

There was nothing left to do but hope things went alright.

—

“Run, Clint!” Kate yelled, brandishing her bow and her quiver from thin air. “I’ll hold them off.” 

“No, Kate! Come with me!” Clint did the same, and fired three shots, slowing down three of the angels chasing them.

“We don’t have time to argue about this!” Kate fired an arrow at the ceiling, and when it exploded, the hall was covered in a thick smoke. “Listen to me. I have no reason to go to Earth but you do. If anyone was going to act as decoy, it’d obviously be me.”

“No, they’ll-” Clint tried, only to be cut off by Kate.

“What could they do? Banish me to Earth?” She smiled at him, “Go, run. Go back to him.”

Clint clenched his jaw, and pulled Kate into a hug. “Thank you.”

Kate pulled away with a grin. “We’ll see each other in a few hundred years. This isn’t goodbye, stupid. Now, go.”

Clint ran.

He didn’t look back because looking back might mean going back to help Kate, and he can’t let what he did for him go to waste. Clint was almost at the gate. He could almost make it. He could get out of here. He could see Phil again. He could-

Searing pain spread from the tips of his left wing. They managed to shoot his wing, and the pain was now a burning sensation. He knew that if he lost his right wing now, he might never be able to leave Heaven again. He stumbled, and lucky that he did, or Uriel might have shot his right wing off too.

Clint jumped, trusting his wings to carry him to Phil, if unsteadily.

—

Clint jerked awake in a bed that he didn’t recognize. He turned his head to survey the room, but there was only one other person in the room.

“I didn’t know Angels slept.” Phil commented.

Clint sat up, groaning as he did - Phil was beside him in an instant. “We generally don’t but sleeping helps us heal faster.” Clint spread his left wing out, to find that his wing was still burnt. “Well, most of the time.”

“What did that to you?” Phil asked worriedly.

“Friendly fire. The angels upstairs, they didn’t think I should be down here. I guess they thought if they burnt my wing off, it’d change my mind.” Clint explained easily.

“That doesn’t sound friendly.” Phil raised an eyebrow at him. “Is- Is Kate one of the angels that didn’t want you to be down here?”

“What?”

“You were murmuring her name. I just thought-”

“No, Kate helped me escape.” Clint sighed, pulling his knees closer to his chest. “I don’t know what happened to her.”

“Can’t you find out?”

“If I tried, they’d find me.” Clint explained with a sigh. “I need to get her. I can’t leave her up there. Angels aren’t as compassionate as humans think they are. Especially not to their kind.” 

“Then, I’ll help you.” Phil held his hand, and Clint accepted the comforting gesture for what it was.

Now they just needed a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/144455926661/i-can-feel-my-brain-lose-iq-points-im)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “This is heaven?” Phil asked as he looked around the extremely bright hallway filled with eerily identical doors. “It’s… um…”

“Depressing? Boring? Unoriginal?” Clint asked, marching down the hall like they weren’t on a covert operation. 

“I was gonna say it looked like SHIELD. Just brighter.” Phil followed behind, making sure to follow Clint close. He didn’t want to get lost in heaven. 

Clint made a humming sound and gave Phil a weird look. “So that’s what you see, huh?” 

“What do you mean what I see?” 

“I can’t go into specifics, but this place is designed to look however the person wishes it to look. Humans, having constructed an image of what heaven is like, see their expectations met. Angels, well, what we see is a bit different.” Clint shrugged and scrunched up his nose.

“Why? What do you see?”

“Well, now, I see a house. Or the interior of someone’s house. I used to be able to see that it was just dark tunnels, intersecting and twisting.” Clint answered. 

“So that means you have an image of what heaven should look like now, right?” Phil asked. 

“Probably. I’m still figuring out why _this_  is the image I see. I don’t even know whose house this is.” 

“Well, then, how do you know where we’re going?”

“It’s the same layout, Phil, it just looks different.”

“What if someone sees us?” Phil asked. “You’re technically a fugitive, and I’m trespassing.” 

“That’s why I’m trying to get us down to the cells without anyone spotting us. I’d rather avoid my siblings than fight them.” Clint suddenly froze, and as luck would have it, someone was headed their way. Clint reached for Phil’s hand and pulled him behind a room.

Phil blinked the brightness away until he saw an old man sitting in a rocking chair alone in a posh study, looking at both of them like he’d seen a ghost. 

“Who are you?” The man asked. “Are you friends with my son?”

“Well, um…” Phil wasn’t sure if this man was an angel or not, but he’s not sure he wants to fight the man.

“Don’t mind him. He’s already dead.” Clint told Phil offhandedly, listening outside for a sign that whoever was headed their way was gone.

The sound of a door opening and closing far off caught Phil’s attention, and he was suddenly braced for a fight. maybe the angels found them after all.

“Dad?” Came an unfamiliar voice. “Dad, I’m home.” 

The old man’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he pushed himself off of the rocking chair. The son, a soldier that was probably in his late twenty’s, entered the study and hugged his father. It was a heart warming scene, and it made Phil smile a bit. 

And then, the weirdest thing happened. 

Everything started moving backwards, as if someone had pushed the rewind button, and the old man was sitting on the rocking chair again, reading a book. The old man looked up, noticed Phil and Clint, and asked, “Who are you?” then, after a beat, “Are you friends with my son?” 

“Okay, we’re clear.” Clint said, opening the door once more. “Come on.” 

Phil followed Clint out and as soon as they were running, he asked, “What was that?” 

“What was what?” Clint paused at an intersection, hearing footsteps, and pressed his back to the wall. Phil didn’t need to be told to do the same. 

As soon as the coast was clear and the angels had passed without seeing Clint or Phil, they started running again. “That. That old man. You said he was dead. And everything, it just, rewind itself.” 

“Well, he was a human. That’s what heaven does to humans. This place gives them what they want most in the world, and that old man, I guess what he wanted the most was to see his son come home. So, that scene, it repeats itself over and over until eternity ends.” Clint explained. 

Phil wasn’t sure how to feel about that. To be trapped like that but to be given everything you wished for.

Clint slowed when they reached a door that looked like the ones that led to the service stairs back at SHIELD. Clint opened the door, and lo and behold, it was a set of stairs leading down. 

Phil should really start spending less time at work.

Down the stairs, there was a solitary containment unit, and inside was a girl that looked like she could be in her late teens. When she saw Clint, she immediately got up and tensed. 

“What are you doing here?” She demanded. 

“We came to bust you out.” Clint answered, looking around for the key. “Shit. where’s the fucking key?”

Phil tried to help, whatever Clint was seeing, it definitely wasn’t the same as what Phil was seeing because the room was empty of anything except the Confinement unit. 

And then, an idea hit Phil. “Clint, you said that this placed is designed to my exact specifications, right?” 

“Yeah. why?”

Phil smiled and brandished his SHIELD ID card. He swiped it through a panel, and typed in his entry code. “Huh.” Phil said when the door opened to let the girl out. “This is a major security flaw.” He commented.

“You’re such a nerd. Come on. Let’s get out of here. You too, Kate.” Clint said, heading for the stairs.

“Thanks. So, you’re Phil?” The girl asked him, giving him a once over. 

“Yes.” Phil answered, trying not to squirm under her gaze. 

“I see it.” She nodded softly. 

“See what?” 

“Not the time, Kate.” Clint hissed, already halfway up the stairs. 

If Clint wasn’t so far ahead of them, Phil would swear he could see Clint’s neck turning bright red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/149036111166/i-woke-up-at-5pm-today-hahahaha-my-life-is-on-a)

**Author's Note:**

> #part 2 is probably gonna be after Phil's not dead after all act#if there's going to be a part 2 #mwahahahahaha#Phlint#clintcoulson
> 
> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/111388400881/happy-chinese-new-years-everyone-i-cant-see)


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